Typical manufacturing engineering work consists of maintaining the plant and building new production lines by reinstalling machines for repeat products. However, we do not simply wait for requests. Instead, I visit the plants and work with managers to figure out what their needs are and determine what kind of equipment would make operations more efficient. Then I share the image and specifications of the equipment we discussed with the younger members of our team like Hiroki and Xiaoying. Once I have them on board with the concept, we split up the tasks that need to get done and dive into the development process.

I was in charge of making the robot adjust its position and identify the components it needed to pick up and transport through image processing. To use the human body as an analogy, I essentially helped create the eyes. Since this was a mobile robot, I developed an imaging function to check the position of the robot and confirm that the required number of components were loaded onto it.

I was primarily in charge of creating the programming for the robot’s movements and how it handled the components as well as the motion of the unit overall. Essentially, I developed and designed the brain of the robot that tells it when, how, and how far to move.

Well, we ran into a lot of walls (laughs). We would share the problems and challenges we were facing with the team, and put our heads together to come up with a solution. If we don’t maintain a regular understanding of each others’ work, we would each be left to face those challenges and problems on our own. When all of our team members understand what the others are working on, it's a lot easier to give each other advice. If you’re struggling with something, the person next to you will always have a helpful idea.
I think we can provide that support for each other because we all have a common understanding of a single goal. Each of us is constantly thinking of how we can develop even better technology. That's why we have an environment in which people are quick to put their ideas out on the table, and everyone is ready to listen.

There are a lot of people you can ask for advice if you don’t understand something because the people in our group have a diverse array of technical backgrounds. I’m thankful to be on a team where everyone comes together to find a solution whenever anyone has a problem.
When developing this robot, I ran into a lot of problems that I wasn’t expecting. Whenever an issue came up, I would consult with Hiroki and we’d tackle the problem together to come up with a solution. When the two of us couldn’t solve the problem alone, we would consult with our team leader or Takahiro, and through collaboration we would arrive at a solution.

Hiroki sits next to me, so he is the first person I go to. Neither Hiroki nor I have a lot of experience with IT system development, so we are learning together. However, Hiroki always helps me out because he immediately notices the small details. He is also very open-minded and imaginative, and suggests approaches that I would have never thought of, which helps drive my work forward. With this robotics project, the screen layouts he created for the robot are extremely well designed and user-friendly.

Since I transferred to this division in the fall of 2020, I am a newcomer to the team, so I didn’t really understand what was going on at first. But whenever I would ask Xiaoying a question, she would always give me a detailed explanation. I am very thankful for her help, because once I understood the current status of the project, I was finally able to offer up my own opinions and contribute my own strengths as an engineer.
Moreover, I requested to be transferred to this division because I wanted to try my hand at things outside the realm of machine design. Despite still being inexperienced, Takahiro and our team leader give me a wide range of tasks so long as I show that I have a firm understanding of what needs to be done. I feel that this is because we trust and support each other as a team.

I am of foreign nationality, and it was my first time changing companies, so I was a little apprehensive. However, everyone welcomed me into the team and made me feel right at home.

The culture and customs that someone is brought up with may be different from your own, but I think that basically you should respect an individual for who they are. Of course, NSK has a number of its own customs that it has cultivated over the years, but these aside, I think we should eliminate the mindset that we have to do things a certain way because this is Japan. So for me, I have no intention of treating Xiaoying any differently than I would anyone else. That being said, coming from a different background I think that Xiaoying probably felt some pressure when she first joined the team.
NSK may have a 100-year long history, but there are still practices that should be changed. That is why I aim to be open to the proposals that Xiaoying brings to the table, and leverage this to change NSK for the better.

When I first joined the team, it took a bit to get used to each other, but everyone was very welcoming and easy to talk to. Especially Takahiro. He always checks our experiments and gives us advice when things don’t turn out well, which encourages us when we feel like giving up!

Our team’s job is to create new technology, so developing this equipment is no simple task. When things continue to go wrong, you can’t help but feel discouraged. But I try to interact with my teammates in a way that keeps them positive because I want them to enjoy their work.

Takahiro is really easy to talk to. There are times when just explaining what is troubling me to Takahiro helps me clarify the problem, and the advice he gives me is sometimes the key to solving it. I’m very grateful. Usually, I don’t think you get very many opportunities to speak with your department head. But on this team, our supervisors will often drop by and ask how everything is going. It puts me at ease knowing that they are taking a keen interest in my efforts, and I also find it motivating.

On this team, we always have to be quick to integrate the world's cutting-edge technologies into the solutions we are developing. Moreover, what is cutting-edge today, will become commonplace five or ten years down the line. That’s why we have to look five years into the future and be creative in coming up with new equipment. But that is what makes this job hard—things don’t always go as planned because there are no precedents for what we are trying to develop, and you have to rely on your team's expertise and intuition to build something new. Nevertheless, I think that this experience will certainly pay off when our young members like Hiroki and Xiaoying are shaping the future of our plants five or 10 years from now. I encourage them to take an interest in new ideas and continue challenging themselves.